Conservation Northwest

Conservation Northwest updates Jen Watkins Conservation associate, jen@conservationnw.org A long journey together Connecting the Cascades north to south for wildlife Map of the I-90 corridor. Just east of the Snoqualmie Pass, the 15-mile I-90 Project area is outlined in purple. right Deer using a highway underpass. Photo courtesy Western Transportation Institute left Eleven years ago, I was hired to work on a historic campaign to purchase and protect private forestlands at risk to development around Interstate 90 in Washington���s Cascades. That campaign, The Cascades Conservation Partnership, fundamentally changed the way I look at conservation. It also changed the way wildlife would experience the Cascades. Interstate 90 cuts through the Cascades, connecting eastern to western Washington and carrying everything from people to potatoes. I-90 also divides wild animals from good habitat to the north to the south in the Cascades. The freeway���s high point, Snoqualmie Pass, connects the Alpine Lakes Wilderness north of the pass to Mount Rainier National Park and Norse Peak Wilderness to the south. From North Bend to Cle Elum, the I-90 corridor includes well known places like Gold Creek, Kendall Peak, Teanaway, Thorpe Mountain, Amabalis Mountain, Swamp Lake, Cabin Creek, North Ridge, and Manastash. Reducing the barrier effect of I-90 If the northern Washington Cascades were your bedroom and the southern Washington Cascades your kitchen, the I-90 corridor would be the hallway. It is the connective tissue between the north and southern Cascades and the wildlife living there. The wildness of these lands for wildlife depends on our ability to keep them connected, and since 2001, I have seen the evolution of our work do just that. Artist���s rendition of a wildlife overpass designed as part of the I-90 Project. WADOT 14 Fall 2012 By the time Conservation Northwest closed the doors on The Cascades Conservation Partnership in 2004, we���d protected more than 40,000 acres of wildlife habitat in the I-90 corridor. Today, groups including Trust for Public Land and Forterra continue to conserve checkered forestlands, parcel by parcel. However, Conservation Northwest next turned our attention to Interstate 90 itself���the largest physical barrier to wildlife���launching the I-90 Wildlife Bridges Coalition. The Coalition���s goals are to reduce the barrier effect of I-90 on wildlife movement north to south and restore functioning wildlife habitat around Snoqualmie Pass in the Cascades. We have successfully advocated for high-quality connections for wildlife as part of the I-90 Snoqualmie East Project to improve and expand the interstate from Hyak to Easton. It���s because of Coalition members that the final design for this major freeway project includes 24 wildlife crossing structures, including two wildlife bridges. We also educate and engage the public about safe passage. Conservation Northwest and the Washington Department of Transportation started a statewide contest for elementary school children featuring wildlife and roads. See article in Inside/Outside center section. With the Western Transportation Institute, we launched I-90 Wildlife Watch, asking drivers to report any wildlife they see along the roadway from North Bend to Easton on an interactive website, i90wildlifewatch. org. We work with other project supporters, from AAA to Kittitas County, to engage public support and ensure that funding is available for the I-90 Project. Voters in 2005 approved a gas tax package to help fund the first 5 miles of the I-90 Snoqualmie Pass East Project. The coalition won direction in the 2011-2013 Washington transportation bill that allows savings from Phase 1 to be used for Phase 2 of the project���including design and construction in 2015 of our state���s first wildlife overpass at the Rock Knob near Lake Easton. We���ll be back to Olympia soon with our partners ensuring that these dollars remain dedicated. As you drive over the pass you can see the highway changing and progress made as we connect habitat in this critical wildlife corridor. Before the snow falls this winter, two wildwww.conservationnw.org

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